Govt scrapping of Amaila Hydro threatens forest pact with Norway – Jagdeo

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo believes the loose statements being made by Minister of State Joseph Harmon and colleague Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, not only threaten the forest pact agreement with the Kingdom of Norway — which has seen the country already earning some US0 million; but could cause the country to lose out on another US.3 billion (GY0 billion) in savings by canning the flagship Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project.
Jagdeo, this past week, lambasted the Minister of State over reports that the Government has scrapped the project because of a lack of finances to go out to tender. He said the consultants, Norconsult AS, have also raised concerns about the project. Jagdeo was adamant that the Government spokesmen were demonstrating unbelievable levels of incompetence.
“Now they are talking about natural gas, a project for which there has been no feasibility studies undertaken. It is a tragedy, the display of ignorance and incompetence is unbelievable and embarrassing,” Jagdeo declared.
Responding to Harmon’s statements that Government did not have the funds to put into the project, and that the independent study recently undertaken was critical of the project, Jagdeo said, “This leaves me to conclude that neither Harmon nor Patterson, nor any other official of Government, has read the report from Norconsult…They are jeopardising our agreement with Norway with loose comments, and harming the future of Guyana with this ignorance,” he said.
Contrary to what the APNU/AFC Administration has claimed, Jagdeo told

reporters, the Norconsult assessment actually says, “The only realistic path for Guyana towards an emission-free electricity sector is by delivering its hydropower potential”.
He observed that the independent report had said, “We regard the soundness of AFHP as evident, and in order to follow up the intentions of the LCDS as fast as possible, we recommend the preparations for AFHP to be resumed.”
The consultants posited, “It is our opinion that the BOOT type public-private partnership model should be maintained for the project’s implementation. An internationally well-merited investor and operator in the hydropower industry should be invited to take the majority position.”
According to Jagdeo, “Notice that Harmon says we don’t have the money, but if he understood the BOOT model, then he would not have said that, and he would have realised that there would not have been a cent of debt to the treasury.” Critical of the decision to can the project, which he spearheaded under the Low Carbon Development Strategy, the Opposition Leader also noted, “Constructing Amaila Falls would cut electricity costs by more than 50% for the energy produced by AFHP, or US$3.3 billion (Gy$700 billion) over 20 years.”
He recalled, too, that the project would have begun delivering electricity to the National Grid this year had it not been demolished by the then opposition APNU/AFC (A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change) when it voted against measures introduced in the House; causing the investors, Sithe Global of Blackstone, to pull out of the project.
The Opposition Leader quipped, “Since early 2016, we heard about an IDB energy mix study, and to date we have heard nothing. Is natural gas part of that study? The IDB and international organisations now have to look at their credibility. We will raise these transgressions, including where foreign funds are used.
“This project will have such a big impact for Guyana. If we had done this in mid-2016, we would have (had) hydropower by now. Politicians have to let the numbers guide them. Instead, what we have is a Government with some hair-brained scheme that they are running after,” Jagdeo posited.